At this time of the year Vietnamese get some early holiday cheer garment industry, field as theirs shiploads of U.S. and European orders ahead of Christmas, but not this year.
The normal season is drying up, and slowdowns in Western economies are rippling across the Pacific including Vietnam, a top source of clothes and other popular holiday gifts. Vietnam’s exports dropped 14.3 percent in August and September because of reduced consumption in its foreign markets.
As the U.S. and European economies struggle the Vietnamese find it hard to ship Nike, Puma, Yonex, and Levi’s products to these destinations. Employees a year ago, had been sleeping at factories when slapped lifted a severe COVID lockdown that had kept workers on site.
Director of Indian cotton supplier S.P.Yarns said that the market this year is not slow even dead. S.P.Yarns has clients in Vietnam, Indonesia, and Bangladesh that produce garments for retailers like Europe’s H&M and Primark. The pullback in spending in the West is being felt up and down the industry throughout Asia.
Goldman Sachs says that Vietnam’s exports decreased “more sharply” than expected, hitting $29.9 billion last month. The World Bank has already warned that high inventories and declining consumption in importing countries will cut demand for Asia’s exports more generally.
